Left: Conor keeping his cool . Right: Owen and Vicky getting simultaneously stuck on Malvinas (6b+) and Gibralter (6b+). while Conor cruises Irlande del Norte (6a+). Photo Credits: Michael B
Tuesday rolled around with the latest incarnation of Gold Team setting off early for the big objective of Espolón Central, 4c, on Puig Campana, sure to be back in plenty of time for beers in Finestrat...The rest of the group set off (some time later) for Guadalest. After a quick warm up I resolved to spend most of the day falling off Territorios Ocupados, 7a (or 6c, thank you again Costa Blanca Climbs) with patient belaying from Michael, until Kyle again found the crucial beta that let me finally lead the route. Meanwhile, the rest of the group took advantage of some of the more impressive routes on offer, with multiple ascents of Irlanda del Norte, 6a+ (had to be done!), Gibraltar, 6b, and Marina Baixa, 6b (including the awkward but entertaining cave at the end of P1). Michael and I then ended the day each leading P1 of the fantastic Erotika, 6a, as the sun began to set, finishing up in time to meet the rest of the team for a quick beer in the picturesque town before heading back to the hostel. Night was drawing in on the drive back, and as we passed Puig Campana we couldn’t help but notice headlamps flashing on the face…surely the other team couldn’t still be on the route?
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Gold team guide to Puig Campana
Team members:
Callum Young - thinks trad season begins in January
Seven Houston - dislikes Craigavon
Peter Adamson - secret YouTube millionaire
Paul Kelly - word based board game extraordinaire
The night before:
The route, approach and descent was analysed, 9 minute drive to the car park from the hostel and a 1hr hike to the base. We had heard the descent could be treacherous in parts, although the addition of a via ferrata style cable covering the traverse section had improved things massively. We note that sunrise in Finestrat is 07:45 and decide that a leaving time of 07:00 is appropriate. Sevan scrolls through his 237 preset alarms to find the perfect wake up time and we all head to bed for an early night.
Day of the climb
06:00 - Paul, Sevan and I are up early, ready to seize the day.
06:55 - Peter tactically arises 5 minutes before departure time.
07:05 - Gold team piles into The Doctor*, which immediately alerts us we are about to run out of fuel and screams its usual warning that the smart key cannot be detected despite being directly on top of the sensor.
07:15 - Arrive at carpark, in the distance we can see the torches of a team already at the base, “Wow they’re keen, I bet they got up as early as possible to make sure nobody holds them up”.
08:00 - 15 minutes from the base, Sevan has a code brown and immediately scurries off to resolve the issue.
08:20 - Arrive at base. We discover that the group we saw from the carpark was actually a 3 and they were still on P1. We decided we should try and pass them after P4 where there is a short 10m pitch on easy terrain.
08:45 - Group ahead starts to lead P2 so Peter kicks off P1 with Paul. Sevan and I go up after.
11:00 - 4 pitches down we realise its actually quite awkward to overtake people as two pairs. Peter has a chat with the first team who are all sound and open to an overtake, but we’re not really sure how to do it as they had already started the next pitch by the time all 4 of us were on the easy terrain of P5. We decide the current pace is probably fine and tell ourselves we’ll try another overtake at the P9 lunch ledge if time is looking short.
13:00 - The sun is shining and the climbing is great, the views and exposure continue to get better.
13:45 - I watch from the top of P7 as Sevan wrestles with an overcammed Black Diamond C4 for a good 10 minutes in an attempt to start his trad rack, but is unsuccessful.
15:00 - All of Gold team is now on the lunch ledge, but similarly to last time the first team had already started the next pitch so we ended up remaining behind them. At this stage we realised we would likely be walking out in the dark.
“We’ll probably get off the scree slope before we’d need the head torches, right?”
15:15 - Progress grinds to a halt. The team in front had some route finding issues on P10 and by the time Sevan and I were able to leave the lunch ledge we had spent almost 2hrs there. During this time we discuss our favourite films, the strangest places we’ve visited and how glad we all were that Sevan made his bowel movement before we got on the wall.
“Ok so we won’t be off the scree slope before dark but at least we’ll get the via ferrata done with the last bit of light, right??"
17:30 - I top P10 to find Peter and Paul along with two members of the first team still there, apparently their original leader for the pitch backed off so they did a swap.
“Alright so this isn’t great but SURELY we’ll finish climbing before we’re out of light, right???”
18:30 - I get started on P11. Thank God I charged that head torch.
18:45 - Sundown, a glorious sunset and great company means morale remains high.
19:15 - Head torches officially come out, this sends Sevan into a psych induced mania that lasts the rest of the night “This is the best day ever”. First team seemed to have picked up the pace quite a bit here despite the pitches being long.
20:20 - After leading the last 2 pitches in the dark all of Gold team tops out.
20:25 - Started on the via ferrata, the first team stuck around near the top to make route finding easier for us which was a nice gesture and very much appreciated.
20:45 - 20 minutes into the via ferrata Sevan asks if we’re allowed to lean on the metal cable or if that’s considered cheating…
21:30 - Arrive at scree slope, Peter: “That via ferrata was terrible I never thought I’d be so glad to get on scree”
21:31 - 60 seconds later the reality of walking downhill through scree in the dark hits Peter “Maybe we all fell to our deaths on that climb and this scree is just Hell”
21:40 - Peter: “I have invented a new sport called screeing and decided this isn’t so bad”
21:45 - We are all a bit dehydrated at this point, I watch Paul pull out a bottle of lemon Aquarius isotonic drink with a few sips left in it and have never been more jealous in my life.
22:30 - Gold team gets back to the car.
22:40 - Arrived back at The Orange House, special shout out to Vicky and Kyle who graciously donated their dinner for the night to us. Also a shoutout to Peter who made the worlds best pasta by accidentally dumping half a salt shaker into in while boiling.
22:50 - Sevan does everyones dishes in a desperate attempt to burn off some of his psyche induced energy to no avail.
11:00 - Bedtime
Best day of the trip?
Learnings
- Read the signs early when there’s a notable speed contrast between groups and act fast, especially when they’re cooperative. Really we should have made a concrete plan with the first group to overtake after P4 but our lack of urgency cost us in the end.
- Gold team rules!
*Our weird Italian branded Chinese rental car was a DR 4.0, lovingly dubbed The Doctor